[Guide] Kombi Bed/shelf system DIY

[milesneil]

Awesome thanks! I was thinking exactly the same. Black paint and less carpet so that wet shoes and stuff can just be thrown into the sides
Also thinking some stretchy nets along the side units to hold stuff in
I don’t want doors either to reduce weight and hassle stuffing things in
Although might create an area for a power bank

 

[aliwhitevanman]

absolutely superb and simple. Thank you for sharing and the other comments above.

 

[Beng]

Yes I've put nets in the sides and tie down points for general stuff

 

[milesneil]

Had a full day on it today and got all the timber cut but stopped for a beer in the sun rather than bolting it all together

The templates take the time to get right but worth it. Then you can mirror for the other side

A track saw I’d say is essential and a decent jigsaw. I put a new blade in my screwfix special and it struggled with the 18m ply so then a decent electric sander was also essential

I’m tempted to add some rear bracing and make the tops of the ‘sides’ removable for storage access

 

[Paynewright]

I dont have a track saw - I use a straight piece of wood and clamp it down allowing for the offset of the blade on the circular saw.

I bought a dewalt cordless circular saw recently and its brilliant - far better than my cheapo 240v C saw

 

[milesneil]

I got mine completed and it survived its first bank holiday weekend at Farm-Fest and transformed the van

I only collected the van at the start of May so this wall all done on evenings and weekends and was a bit of a time crunch!

Standard single sliding door and tailgate swb kombi for reference. No other modifications or other people stuff to ‘undo’

I stripped the standard panels and ceiling and silent coat, thermolined and insulated first). No time to carpet the metal or the panels themselves so just put them back for now at least.





Then started my side ‘boxes’







Pocket screw jig was an essential bit of kit. I also added some horizontal and triangular pieces to stop for and after movement. I wasn’t brave enough to glue so might go back and do that. Like the OP I painted the ply black, ideally I would’ve done another coat.

I low think I might add some supports to the front where the bed board supports hang forward towards the seat but when using it I didn’t feel I needed too

 

[milesneil]

I then thought about adding some sound deadening to the wheel arches which I did and then had to cut the vertical support curves back a bit more as they were rubbing (and noisy!)



My plan is to fit some of the van style/rim plastic wheel arches which covers to provide a finish (which again might mean more trimming). But the thermoliner worked in terms of noise and didn’t compromise the use of the space for shoes and sleeping bags. Nets needed though for regular use

Carpeting started as you can see and was easy using the Combe Vally yourube video as a guide


This is a 135cm self inflating mattress from www.trail.co.uk excellent quality and comfort and decent value as on sale now and you can find a code for a few more percent. This was testing an option of having the bed shifted to the front seats. It was useful like this as it gives you space to get out of the tailgate into the tailgate awning but we did make the rear bed board full size and push it to the rear. It will be best like this when I get around to front swivel seats

The space either side of the mattress housed towel robes, hoodies etc and water bottles so more useful than a king sized mattress



It was great for a driveway test!



And great when set up with some temp lighting!


Paired with a vango air tailgate awning and a side canopy it ,made a great set up

 

[milesneil]

We were debating how to add storage that could be accessed from the bed for underwear, toiletries etc to the standard flimsy side panels and found these from BusBoxx sold by Forty Winks in the UK. Not cheap at £115 a side but excellent quality and took so much stuff. There is another side net that isn’t useable due to the height of the bed (dictated but the kombi seat height) so you could cut back the carpeted panel to access but we didn’t feel we needed the space

So thanks to this thread, I hope my pictures are helpful also to anyone else embarking on a build.

It’s 18mm ply from wickes so £70 for two sheets and I had loads left

Didn’t feel it needed a leg support. Carpet was from amazon or eBay plus some spray (used two cans), paint is some decking paint I had left over

So under £100 for the bed, about the same for the mattress and then double for the side storage. So well under £500 including all the bolts and pocket hole stuff which I was very pleased with.

Only things I might change are the kombi panels to 6mm ply to add more strength to the side bags and some eyelets as I’m worried about the fabric straining, some storage nets to keep stuff the sides when in normal use and add some more paint (oh and the arch liners)

Thanks for the inspiration and the pictures which wear easy enough to follow!

 

[milesneil]

Oh and if you are lucky to have a carpeting assistant, make sure to provide them with PPE (she took the glasses off!)

 

[Beng]

Glad it helped, looks great!

Yes I changed the rear quarter panels for 4mm ply and carpeted.

 

[Mikeyg345]

Curious. How wide is the removable panel? or rather, how far out have you come from the van walls?

 

[milesneil]

Well somehow I managed to get the sides to follow the van which gets wider towards the middle and didn’t compensate enough to make the middle panel straight. So I cut both sides of the centre panel as a taper to give me a wedge shape centre section
Not far out, 106cm nearest the seats and 103cm nearest the tailgate.
That makes the side boxes around 30cm each at their widest point. The shelf for the middle panel is 7cm wide further ((and under the 30cm bit by 7cm too recessed into the upright supports)
I made it all out of cardboard as much as possible first before cutting the ply. Focussing on one box first, then replicating/mirroring the other side and then when at height the top panels

 

[Mikeyg345]

Well somehow I managed to get the sides to follow the van which gets wider towards the middle and didn’t compensate enough to make the middle panel straight. So I cut both sides of the centre panel as a taper to give me a wedge shape centre section
Not far out, 106cm nearest the seats and 103cm nearest the tailgate.
That makes the side boxes around 30cm each at their widest point. The shelf for the middle panel is 7cm wide further ((and under the 30cm bit by 7cm too recessed into the upright supports)
I made it all out of cardboard as much as possible first before cutting the ply. Focussing on one box first, then replicating/mirroring the other side and then when at height the top panels

I’m going 40cm each side away from the van sidewalls, which should leave me with a 80cm-ish board in the middle.

I will be measuring twice before I drill the holes for the lash down points! My OCD needs it to be square

This is a great concept from the original post, cheers!

 

[milesneil]

I’m going 40cm each side away from the van sidewalls, which should leave me with a 80cm-ish board in the middle.

I will be measuring twice before I drill the holes for the lash down points! My OCD needs it to be square

This is a great concept from the original post, cheers!

Good luck. Let us know how you get on
I wanted to keep maximum space in the middle without the board for bikes etc
As you say I could reset the holes for the lash down points and straighten it but it was too close to bother. You don’t notice it visually and if I hadn’t have admitted it no one would know!
I might try and refit the lash down plastic pieces also for a more factory finish once I’ve added more paint